THIS LITTLE DUDE. I got to meet Chance about a year ago at an informational meeting for foster care, and the foster-to-adopt process, that his parents were hosting at their home. Sophia, Chance's mom, had invited my husband (a former co-worker of hers from his teaching days). They shared their story, and encouraged a small group of families to become foster families.
Chance has since become a little buddy of our daughter, Freyja, who loves talking about Chance, including retelling how they may have done an "ok" job at sharing a soccer ball, and how Freyja thinks that Chance may occasionally be to blame for her dirty diaper (for the record, there is only one 2-year-old who is to blame for this and it is definitely NOT Chance). They are two peas in a pod.
Not only has this incredibly lucky dude won his preschool's raffle two years in a row (first winning a Power Wheels car that he did not yet know how to drive, and then winning a giant poster-sized portrait of himself that now hangs in his bedroom), but Chance, Sophia and Elliott have all won the family jackpot. Here is their story, as told by his momma:
"Elliott and I always knew we wanted to be parents (we even both included our future children in our wedding vows!) but a year or so into trying to build our family, we realized our path to parenthood would be different from the traditional route. In December 2016 we decided to grow our family though adoption, and after 5 months of classes, home studies, and baby proofing, we were certified.
The day before our foster care certification we got a call asking if we would be interested in adopting a 5-month-old named Chance. The social worker emailed me a picture of a tiny baby with tons of black hair, and of course we were instantly in love. Two months (and more interviews) later, Chance joined Elliott and me, and we became a family of three.
For that first year, we were Chance’s foster parents. This meant that we had a whole team of supportive adults (caseworkers, former foster parents, GAL, CASA, and 3 therapists) who helped us be the best parents we could be for our little man. It also meant we had to go a whole year without posting any pictures of our very, very, very cute baby! (SO hard!). Then finally, in May 2018 our adoption hearing made our family official. Now Chance has our last name, AND we can travel, give medicine, and take swimming lessons—all without having to get explicit permission!
Like most parents, we feel beyond lucky that Chance is our son. Adoption is a beautiful and complicated way to make a family. Every day we are grateful to his first parents, his first foster parents, his team, and the Universe for this little crazy little man ending up in our world."